MDDM Ch. 57 - a Few Thoughts

[jbor]

John wrote:

> 562.11 ‘The peevish wazir’ – ‘wazir’ is also a chesspiece found in ancient
> variants of the game. Kind of like a pawn or a weaker rook, having one
> appear as ‘peevish’ could be of some significance, especially in a colonial
> (British-Indian) context

> http://www.chessvariants.com/d.betza/chessvar/pieces/wazir.html

I think I found somewhere that it was the title of a sort of appointed Prime
Minister - more of a political yes-man really, so the chess pawn connection
is apt - to provincial monarchs in what are now parts of India and Pakistan.
There is or was a Waziristan on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border also, as I
think Terrance mentioned, from whence the name probably originally derives.

It (the play's title) seems to imply that the whole Black Hole of Calcutta
tragedy was instigated by a cranky local bureaucrat. Note also that, in the
hands of the anonymous avant-garde American theatrical producers, it has
been turned into a musical comedy. (562.10 & 564.8) Only 10 years for
history to be reappropriated as farce ....

best